After two days of practice, he said the tricky operation made his right knee “a lot stronger than it was last year.”

“It wasn’t a tough decision at all,” he said. “It was a piece of cake. Rehab is not the hard part for me.”

But ...

“It is not what it once was before the (2005) accident. I can’t plant as hard as I want sometimes, but I work around it.”

Winslow tied a team record with 89 catches last year. He hopes to improve on his per-catch average of 9.8 yards.

He’ll try to play it smart as the season approaches.

“It always bothers me,” he said, “but I have to live with it, and I’m healthy.”

Cribbs airs one out

Romeo Crennel didn’t get carried away with wideout Joshua Cribbs’ long completion to rookie Mike Mason on a fake reverse.

“I haven’t seen him throw a lot of passes,” Crennel said. “He was accurate on one today, but the guy was wide open, so it’s hard for him to miss that one.”

Cribbs was a four-year starter for Kent State at quarterback. One school of thought has him emerging in the Antwaan Randle El-type role that used to help the Steelers.

Say it’s so, Joe

Wideout Joe Jurevicius says he and his offensive teammates think they can get good enough to “impose our will” on defenses. Crennel said, “I think our guys think we have better players ... particularly on the offensive line.”